1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to a method and a system for feeding a media sheet through an image forming device and, more particularly, to a method and system for performing imaging operations on the media sheets during a timing based malfunction.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printing device, such as an electrophotographic printer or an inkjet printer, for example, typically includes a media sheet feed system for sequentially transporting sheets of media from a media input tray to a transfer location for transferring a toner image thereto and subsequently to an output area which the media sheets may be accessed by a user.
Manufacturers of printing devices are continually challenged to improve printing device performance. One way in which improvement is sought is to achieve higher throughput rates. To deliver higher throughput, there is a greater chance of encountering a timing related issue. For example, a media sheet may reach a predetermined location upstream of the imaging device's transfer nip where a toner image is transferred thereto, prior to the printing device's print engine being ready for the toner image transfer. This could be due to the print engine minor motor taking too long to settle to its imaging speed, the laser servo process taking too long to finish, or the media sheet appearing at the predetermined location earlier than expected. When this situation occurs in current and/or prior machines, an error message is posted at the user display panel and the user of the printing device is forced to intervene and handle the error condition. Typically when these types of errors occur there is no damage to the media sheet and it is not a real jam condition in the traditional sense in that the media sheet is not unable to be transported along the printing device's media path.
Another timing related issue stems from a narrowing of the interpage gap to increase throughput. When the gap between sheets of media was too narrow or even undetectable, prior printing devices posted a paper jam, stopped the printing operation and required the user to take various remedial steps, such as opening covers, removing supplies and clearing sheets of media.